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Augustan Killed Over $lO Bet COLLEGE LIBRARY I the PEOPLE’S PAPER H 20f)) WIIM rStJ I national black news SERVICE \\ yj MEMBER XC~—y Vol 3 Arson Suspected Fire Strikes Bethlehem Center - $ 5,000 Damages By Michael Thurmond Bethlehem Community Center, an agency that has served the underprivileged in Augusta for over 60 years, was struck by fire on the afternoon of June 7. The fire caused an estimated damage of $5,000. Luckily the center was officially closed last Friday because the Center’s staff was attending its annual workshop and picnic. The fire apparently originated in a food storage bin in the office of the Center’s Director, Verlyn C. Bell. The office sustained the greatest amount of damage while the rest of the facility suffered from extensive smoke and water damage. Although city fire inspectors Jack Anderson Column Rescues Augusta Soldier Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Jack Anderson wrote in his column about the plight of Augusta Sergeant Charles Anthony who suffered a nervous breakdown after the Army refused to give him a compassionate reassignment to Fort Gordon to be near his suicidal wife and eight children (NEWS-REVIEW, APRIL 25th). Anderson’s column, which is carried in over three hundred newspapers, appeared on June 6th. That same day, Anthony was notified that he was being reassigned to Fort Gordon. Only three days earlier, Dr. Peter G. Cranford, Anthony’s wife psychologist, had been informed by the Army that the reassignment could not be made. Maddox Squashes Rumor Os Involvement In Lieutenant Governor’s Race Lieutenant Governor Lester Maddox said today, “I have not given and will not give my endorsement and support to any candidate for Lieutenant Governor during the primary or primary run-off, and I positively will not get involved in the political campaigns of other candidates for other offices.” Maddox states that a number of reports have come to him that several candidates for the Office of Lieutenant Governor are stating that Lester Maddox is supporting their candidacy. “I want to bring to a complete halt any such reports and rumors,” he said, and added, “any candidate for Lieutenant Governor who claims to have my endorsement or support is simply not telling the truth, and the people hearing this statement from any candidate should consider it as untrue.” Deadline Mondays, Please P.O. Box 953 could not elaborate on a definite cause of the fire, an unidentified Bethlehem Center employe informed the News-Review that the Center has been the scene of four previous fires. On two occasions, community children were found responsible for the arson attempts. When questioned about the probable cause of the fire, Director Bell stated, “I would not rule out the possibility of arson since witnesses report that two men were alledgely seen leaving the facility prior to the fire.” He also confirmed the report that four other minor fires had been started in the building in recent weeks. The director hastened to add, Under the heading “THE FORGOTTEN SERGEANT”, Anderson wrote: The Army’s slick new advertising campaign, promising enlistees they’ll be treated “with respect and dignity,” doesn’t mention wnat happened to Sgt. Charles Anthony. He’s a 14-year Army veteran with a wife and eight young children. His wife is seriously ill and one of the children has a critical heart ailment. He received a routine transfer from Ft. Gordon, Ga., to Ft. Belvoir, Va. He didn’t balk at the orders until ti*e condition of both his wife and child grew worse. The doctors said they couldn't be moved. So Sgt. Anthony asked the Army’s Compassionate Review Black Press Head Wires President Nixon Protesting Government Advertising Bias - Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett, president of the National Newspaper Publishers Association and editor-publisher of the San Francisco Sun-Reporter, wired President Nixon last week protesting the placement of Defense Department advertising in the white media and denying it to the Black Press. The message reads: “Mr. President: The 7-column, 17-inch Army Opportunities ads appearing currently in the To vote in primaries, you must register before June 21st. V however, that “Community Centers, because of their very nature, are in perpetual danger of being vandalized and set afire because of their programs and because they are located in volatile low-income communities.” Firemen were amazed that the entire structure was not gutted by the flames. The heat was so intense that metal plaques hanging on the walls in Bell’s office were melted and warped. Asked about the type and amount of insurance coverage carried on the Center, Bell said, “We are insured, but we must keep in mind that the property and facility are owned by the Womens’ Division Board of Board to let him stay at Ft. Gordon. But the board, its name notwithstanding, was lacking in compassion. Despite letters of support from doctors at Ft. Gordon, the sergeant was turned down. He was ordered to report to Ft. Belvoir or take a hardship discharge that would cost him his retirement benefits. Woefully, he obeyed orders and traveled the lonely 600 miles to Ft. Belvoir. Still, he believed the Army he had loyally served would realize its mistake and send him back to his family. Instead, he was informed flatly that he was there to stay. Dr. Peter Cranford of Augusta, Ga., the psychologist who attended the sergeant’s wife, told us he warned tne Compassionate Review Board that she might attempt suicide White Metropolitan Daily Press are the most blatant examples of economic racism perpetrated by an insensitive national administration against the Black Press of America.” “How can the Executive Branch of our National Government enforce equal economic opportunity statutes when the Federal Governments permits its Defense Department to openly discriminate against the sole Black-owned communications medium of 25 million Black Americans, a people more Augusta, Georgia Global Ministers of the United Methodist Church. They have a package program where 80 centers like ours are insured under a “blanket” program. The insurance is SI,OOO deductible on property damage and SI,OOO deductible on facility contents. This simply means that we must pay the first SI,OOO in repairs before the insurance company will help us.” Bell woefully admits that he and the Center have experienced some trying times during recent months. An estimated $6,000 worth of damage has been sustained by Bethlehem Center during the last two months due if iier husband were force to leave. The board wouldn’t listen and Mrs. Anthony attempted to take an overdose of sleeping pills just as the doctor had feared. Fortunately, she was stopped in time. But the sergeant, alone and despondent 600 miles from the family who needed him, suffered an emotional breakdown. As we write this, he is hospitalized at the Army’s Walter Reed Hospital in Washington. Footnote: When we made inquiries at the Compassionate Review Board, we heard a loud voice in the background shout: “Don’t answer that!” But later the board explained that Anthoy was assigned to Ft. Belvoir because of job openings and the nearness of Walter Reed. numerous than the populations of 157 other nations?” “The expenditure of Federal advertising dollars without observing an equitable advertising policy is the gravest form of institutional racism and economic criminality. We demand that the Defense Department be force to obey the Equal Economic Opportunity statutes and its fair minorities procurement policies.” A copy of the meassage was sent to James R. Schlesinger, Secretary of Defense. principally to vandalism and minor fires. He also confesses to having been the target of threats and pranks by unknown community residents. But even in the wake of Bethlehem Center’s most recent losses, Bell has pledged to continue and increase the Center’s community services. “We’ll redouble our efforts to reach the community teenagers by offering recreational programs, jobs, job placement, counseling and by sending more staff members into the community.” Plans are already being implemented so that funds can be raised to repair the damaged facility. The fund raising k RAY CHARLES Ray Charles To Highlight Fort Gordon Concert The legendary Ray Charles will be performing in concert at Fort Gordon on June 19th. Ray Charles and his Revue ww: perform three times for Post audiences during his two-day stay. On June 19th, a reception will be held for Ray and other concert entertainers at the NCO Club. The reception will run from 5-7 p.m. and is open to all NCO & Meredith Leaves Democratic Primary JACKSON, Miss.--James H. Meredith, the Black man who integrated the University of Mississippi a decade ago, withdrew yesterday from the Democratic run-off election for the House of Representatives and said he would run as an independent in the fall. He called the runoff “a senseless and useless election for me since the Mississippi Regular Democratic Party will not support me if I win. The Regular Democrats are one of two competing factions within the Mississippi Democratic Party. “Yesterday’s election proved two things to Blacks,’’Meredith said. “Number 1- we don’t need white folks’ money to win. Number -2 - Black people can win without white folks niggers, white folks colored people and white folks June 13, 1974 No. 13 program will consist of 1) appealing to the entire Augusta Community for help 2) request that the churches who have already made generous donations will continue to make donations 3) ask for assistance from the Black Community. (Less than 1% of the Center’s operating budget comes from the Black Community). Finally Bell said, “1 don’t really view the latest fire as a set-back for the Center, principally because we have a dedicated staff and board. We have a mandate to overcome obstacles so that we can continue to provide the type of services that the people need.” Officer Club members. Later that evening, Ray Charles and Revue will present two shows at the NCO Club (9 & 11 p.m.). Reservations for these shows are available at the Club office. June 20 will be the big day, however. That’s the day when he will put it all together for an afternoon of music on Barton Field. Negroes. Meredith finished first in Tuesday’s five man primary election with 31.8 per cent of the vote. In the June 25th runoff he was to meet Jackson television excutive Kenneth Dean. “My victory yesterday was a milestone in our struggle for self-determination and full freedom,” Meredith said. “It proves what a determined people can do. My total contributions in this campaign were $31.50. Meredith said his job for the general election campaign was simple. “Forty-four per cent of the Fourth Congressional District is Black,” he said. Meredith ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1972 and for the Jackson City Council in 1973. Woman raped, robbed of cash and food stamps. Bizarre Shooting leavessoldier wounded. Stories in the Police Report ' 4 FBI 1 I h V - A'. « ■ lilHft cBSJaSSHI /U Br& Ki H N*?w>Review Staff Photo Bv Roscoe Williams Bethlehem Center Director Verlyn Bell {joints to gutted area near his office. Gubernatorial candidate Burt Lance meets with local leaders at the Thunderbird Inn. Josey Teacher Receives Doctorate W. R oger Sharrock of Edgefield, South Carolina, was one of thirty-six who recently received a doctoral degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His degree is in Educational Administration with coursework concentration in management and research at the community college level. His dissertation topic was “Members of Boards of Trustees of N.C. Community Colleges: Their Selected Personal Characteristics and Attitudes Toward Institutional Role and Governance.” Dr. Roger Sharrock is a native of LaFayette, Georgia, where he attended high school. He received the B.S. degree at Union University, Jackson, Tennessee, and the M.Ed. degree at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He has had additional graduate work at the North Carolina State University in Raleigh and at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. He pastored churches in Tennessee and Georgia from 1951 to 1959. In public school work, he taught in Tennessee and Georgia, served as guidance counselor in North Carolina and is presently guidance counselor at T.W. Josey High School in Augusta. In the post-high school education field he has been student personnel director and director of adult education in a technical institute of the community college system of North Carolina. He worked in the Concentrated Employment Program for the Ex-Offenders for the N.C. Department of Correction in its first year of operation. Drs. Roger and Ruth Sharrock moved to Edgefield in October of 1972. They have two sons, Barry of Louisville, Kentucky and Mark of Manchester, Tennessee, and two daughters, Ms. Susan Marshall of Atlanta, and Renee of Edgefield. Thy are members of First Baptist Church of Edgefield where Dr. Roger Sharrock teaches an Adult Men’s Sunday School Class. He is an officer in the Richmond County Civitan Club and the charter secretary of the CSRA Phi Delta Kappa Education Fraternity.